(Texas A&M University rendering)

The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents on Thursday almost doubled the construction budget — from $85 million to $150 million — for Phase One of the Texas A&M-Fort Worth urban research campus.

Responding to greater-than-expected demand for space in the Law & Education Building, the Regents authorized approximately 225,000 gross sq. ft. — an estimated nine floors to house programs in law, engineering, business and health sciences, among others.

"There is so much opportunity for the Texas A&M System to serve Fort Worth, Tarrant County and all of North Texas, we had to go bigger and taller in the first building," said Chancellor John Sharp.

The Law & Education Building is to be the first of a three-building complex built on four city blocks in southeast downtown as a joint effort with the city of Fort Worth and Tarrant County to spur business growth and economic development.

The other two buildings will be a public-private sector project built with city-issued bonds secured by lease payments from the Texas A&M System and private sector companies who want to co-locate with university and agency researchers.

The vision is to create a hub of collaboration between key Fort Worth industries and top research, education and workforce training assets of the Texas A&M System.

Texas A&M University's School of Law, which has doubled its enrollment since 2019 to approximately 1,200 students, will occupy about half of the Law & Education Building. The construction will be financed with the Permanent University Fund and other System monies.

As part of the vote, the Regents authorized $15 million of the $150 million construction budget for design and pre-construction services. As early as May, the Board could be asked to give the final authorization for a groundbreaking.

In other action, the Board approved:

• $35 million for Phase 1 and $75 million for Phase 2 of the construction of a new dock and infrastructure for an ocean-going training and research ship for the Texas A&M Maritime Academy. The larger dock must be built to provide safe mooring of the vessel in Category II hurricanes;
• A new bachelor's degree program in journalism at Texas A&M and authorized the university to seek the approval of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board;
• Increasing the cost of the Engineering Classroom and Research Building at Texas A&M University at Galveston by $6 million to $50,992,125;
• Early procurement of machinery and materials for Tarleton State University's $110 million convocation center to address supply chain delays;
• A new $15.1 million Nuclear Engineering Education Building that will consolidate research faculty and labs for Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station in College Station;
• $6.4 million to construct a Propulsion Test Facility at Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station's Turbomachinery Lab Project in College Station.

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